Weather, Castle Hill, Ipswich, Massachusetts, 2009

The weather – nature’s way of expressing itself – has battered the surface of this statue for nearly 100 years. It has no defenses – it must take whatever blows nature inflicts, gradually deteriorating under its punishment. . Man, on the other hand, is able to adapt to nature’s rampages. In this case, a tourist is warmly wrapped in a hood and jacket as she strides past the row of statues lining Castle Hill’s impressive Grand Allee – the half-mile long backyard of the Crane Plumbing family’s former mansion.

The ground gradually slopes down from the mansion to the sea. Since the winds comes off the sea, the trees bend away from it. The woman's back and head bend forward as she strides uphill. And the statue's pedestal has settled a bit over the last 100 years. So yes, all is tilted here, and in a sense, all bend to natural forces.